


Occam's Razor

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Finding Their Way [2]
Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Post-Series, Stubbornness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-25 14:27:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2625113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The question of what to do suddenly had a wonderfully simple answer.</p><p>Set after "Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Occam's Razor

**Author's Note:**

> So, um ... I've kind of been sitting on this for a little bit. I was just too scared to post it.

Darren Pine was a member of Haven’s medicorps, and so far had proven kind and thoughtful enough to push his looks firmly into the attractive category. Holly still wasn’t entirely certain what had compelled him to ask her out, but he was a good conversationalist and had done a decent job at being charming since the moment she’d met him.

Staring into his green eyes from across the restaurant’s table, Holly focused all her energy on feeling even a flicker of interest. Just one would be enough to work with.

Thankfully unaware of her thoughts, Darren took another bite of his pasta. “It’s sad, but now that the bulk of the rebuilding’s been done I’m actually getting more violent crime patients than before.”

“Same with the LEP. Less disaster assistance, more old-fashioned homicide investigations.” The fact that Darren had no problem talking shop _should_ be a point in his favor. Honestly, he should have dozens of points in his favor, even more than the reporter she’d gone out with last week. Even though she’d avoided getting them both thrown out of the crunchball game, she’d had zero interest in him, either.

It was starting to become alarming.

This time, Darren noticed some shift in her expression. “Are you okay?” he asked, the genuine concern on his face making her feel even guiltier. “You’ve barely eaten.”

She looked down, annoyed and embarrassed to realize he was right. “Sorry,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes as she deliberately loaded her fork. “It was just—”  The lie cut off when her communicator vibrated, and she jumped for it with a speed that was probably rude. “Sorry, but I need to get this. It could be work.”

He waved a hand in understanding, and she ducked into a relatively quiet corner to answer. “Holly Short speaking.”

"It’s Artemis. Butler and I just touched down in Haven, and I was wondering if you might be free for a late dinner.” His voice was so wonderfully warm. Holly didn’t know whether it had changed somehow in the last year and a half, or if she just knew how to read him now. “It’s appalling that I’m not more familiar with Elven cuisine, and now that most of the restaurants have had time to re-establish themselves it’s a perfect opportunity.”

Excitement and frustration chased each other through Holly. “What are you doing down here? You didn’t tell me you were coming.”

It was a ridiculous thing to say. Artemis had his own life, and every right to do what he wanted without telling her about any of it. But the last eight months had proven that she enjoyed being with him just as much when they _weren’t_ in the middle of some crisis, and even after he’d gotten his memory back they had found every justification they could for her to either go up there or for him to come down there.

But with her case load being the way it was and his work on the human’s aviation system, it had been almost a week since she’d seen him last. And now that he was actually _here_ , she was stuck in this restaurant trying to prove something that Artemis had managed to shoot in the foot with a single phone call. She knew she should be embarrassed about that, but all she could think about was missing time with Arty.

“It was a last-minute decision. Foaly’s running into some glitches with his latest toy, and because he refuses to let anyone else in on his process I’m one of the few people who can troubleshoot with him.”  He already sounded cautious, just a little distant. “I apologize. It appears I caught you at a bad time.”

She realized he could hear the restaurant sounds filtering in through the background, and knew he was about to hang up and let her get back to her dinner. The denial she felt at that thought was immediate. “No. I just … I got stuck at something. I’ll get out of it and meet you in a few minutes. You’ll be at Foaly’s lab, right?”

The silence on the other end stretched on for longer than it should have. “The sound level suggests a higher-end restaurant rather than a party or community event of some kind. You prefer to take friends to the café on Oak, which is slightly louder and doesn’t have discrete music playing in the background.” He sounded even more distant now. “I truly didn’t mean to intrude, Holly. You shouldn’t feel compelled to shepherd me around all the time. I’ll let you get back to your dinner.”

Without giving her a moment to argue, he hung up. Holly scowled at the communicator, but the fact that she felt like shaking Artemis was just one more thing that made her want to be where he was. She looked back in the direction of the dining area, finally accepting that the only thing wrong with Darren Pine was that he wasn’t the genius, annoying Mud Boy who was the best friend she’d ever had.

Holly knew that she would have to figure out what do to about that at some point. Right now, though, all she wanted to do was get out of this date.

000

They were at the lab, just as she’d thought. Butler was outside reading a novel – Foaly had rebuilt the lab with higher ceilings, but making them high enough for the massive human to be truly comfortable would have caused structural issues. When he saw Holly, he lifted his head. “Artemis said you were occupied for the evening.”

“He was wrong,” Holly said firmly, making sure that none of her frustration with Artemis leaked out on an undeserving target. Since he was sitting down, she took the opportunity to hug him. “It’s good to see you, Butler.”

He hugged her back, carefully. “It’s good to see you as well, Holly. I presume no disasters are impending?” When she took a step back, shaking her head, he gave her a thoughtful look. “I had thought it was simple disappointment, but a fight with you would actually be a better explanation for Artemis’s silence.”

“We didn’t fight.” He hadn't given her the chance to.

“Clearly.” She wondered how many times Artemis had been on the receiving end of Butler’s polite disbelief. The number likely registered in the thousands. “Don’t kill him, please. I don’t want to have to fight you.”

Then, calmly, he returned back to his book. Knowing there was no safe response, Holly went inside.

She found Artemis and Foaly at the main worktable, arguing about something. Foaly was yelling, and Artemis would cut in occasionally with some short, sharp comment. If what Butler said was true, it wasn’t Foaly who had put him that out of temper.

The thought, oddly enough, made her feel a little better.

When she appeared in the doorway, Artemis was the first one to see her. There was a brief burst of sheer pleasure on his face before he shut his expression down again, and the sight of it drained the frustration out of her like someone had pulled a plug. Naturally, it immediately came back, motivated by how utterly unfair it was that he had the power to affect her like this.

Foaly broke off in mid-rant when he saw her, brow furrowed. “Weren’t you out on a date?”

Artemis immediately bent his head back down to the bit of technology in front of him. “He got called into work,” she lied, channeling all the calm in her power as she found a stool and set it down across from Artemis. “We didn’t have a chance to make it to dinner, and Arty promised to feed me.”

His head shot back up at that, though she couldn’t tell if he was more indignant at her lies or the fact that she’d announced his absolutely genuine offer. She stared him down, making it clear she wasn’t going anywhere, while Foaly looked back and forth between them as if he knew just how much he was missing. “I’ll … just go to check on something conveniently out of the line of fire,” he announced finally, still utterly ignored by both parties as he ducked out of the room.

 “You know he’s just going to use the cameras, right?” Holly asked, once the door had firmly closed behind the centaur.

 “Of course he is.” Artemis exhaled slowly, trying to force his expression back under control. “I didn’t mean for you to break your date. I apologize. I shouldn’t have called you.”

“I _wanted_ you to call me, and I want to be where I am,” she said firmly, trying to figure out why he was being so obstinate about this. Normally, he was quite happy for things to go his way. “Do you really think you could get me to do anything I didn’t want to do?”

 “But if your compulsion is protectiveness, or a sense of responsibility, there’s no need for it. You’re entitled to a life.” Then his voice gentled. “And if it’s a lingering effect of my—”

Holly shook her head, cutting him off. She didn’t want to _think_ about Artemis dying, let alone talk about it. “Stop arguing for once in your life, Arty.” If he kept this up, she’d have to tell him why she was here. And if she did that, she wouldn’t be able to stop. “Please.”

He didn’t say anything, watching her with too much in his eyes for her to understand any of it. “I was jealous,” he said finally, voice quiet.

The world tipped sideways. “What?”

“I was jealous,” he repeated, eyes sliding away from hers. “At least, I’m fairly certain that’s what this is – I’ve never felt the emotion with anyone but you, so I don’t have a suitable control sample.”

There was so much raging inside her. It felt like when she’d been de-aged, except that this time there were no adolescent hormones to blame it on. “Arty….”

“I know.” He still wouldn’t look at her. “My days of kissing elves are done with. I apologize.”

She just stared at him, feeling her heart start to pound. They were different ages. They were different _species_. But if they both felt this way … they’d faced worse odds before and somehow made it. They always did, as long as they were together. “You never answered my question,” she said softly.

This time he must have heard something in her voice, and it was enough to make him finally meet her eyes. “Which one?”

She reached a hand across the worktable, fingers coming to rest only a few inches from Artemis’s. “If I’d been stuck as a teenager, would it have been such a bad thing?”

His eyes flashed, a dozen different emotions swirling in them. Then, gaze still locked with Holly’s, he moved his own hand just enough to cover hers. “I would have felt exactly the same way about you as I do now."

The question of what to do suddenly had a wonderfully simple answer. “Can you take care of the cameras?”

He nodded, reaching into his pocket with his other hand to activate some device he had undoubtedly tucked there. When he nodded again, she slid her hand out from underneath Arty’s and stood up. He shifted around to watch her, their gaze never breaking as she walked around the table, leaned down, and kissed him.

She was hesitant at first, knowing that there was no extra magic between them as there had been during their previous kiss. But she still felt the sparks tingling through her, called up this time only by the feel of Artemis's lips against hers.

They broke apart, staring at each other with something close to awe. "Okay," she whispered, feeling happiness bubble up inside her. "So maybe I was wrong about you being done."

He laughed at that, the sound bright and beautiful enough to make her heart clench. They were just about to lean back in when they heard someone pounding on the door, then what sounded like a round of very creative cursing.

“I may have also overridden the door controls,” Artemis murmured. “He’ll be able to take them back from me, but we should at least have a few minutes.”

Holly grinned. “Well, then we’d better make the most of them.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my weekly posts and original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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